64 How to Lay Out 



CHAPTER VIII. 



There are too many who have no idea of im- 

 provement, except by increasing the quantity, 

 the quaUty, or the value of an estate. The 

 beauty of the scenery seldom enters into their 

 thought; and, What will it cost? or, What will 

 it yield? not. How will it look? seems the gen- 

 eral object of inquiry in all improvements. — 

 Sir Humphrey Repton. 



1 1 AT shall I plant? is the usual question of the 

 improver, not where shall I plant or how will the 

 P'ounds look? If there is an open space or a nice 

 clean expanse or breadth of lawn there is great 

 temptation to plant in the middle a tree, a bush, a flower bed, 

 or a rockery. It has almost become a belief that he who i)lants 

 a tree is a benefactor — only plant — never mind art or 

 artistic feeling in the location of the tree. Sometimes one 

 will hear a remark, — "I don't need any plans; just give me 

 the bushes; I can see it all in my eye how to plant on the 

 ground." Such words are not infreiiuent from so-called pro- 

 fessors of the art of landscape gardening or landscape archi- 

 tecture. Does it not seem strange that such men as Repton 

 and Olmsted, masters in their art, should need to make a 

 plan? See Plan VI. 



Then the next step is to make a planting plan after the 

 grading })lan has been finished or the grading has been com- 

 pleted. This plan should show in detail the kind and numl)er 

 of ])lants to use to form the gi'oups and masses indicated on the 

 preliminary sketch. 



To begin with, take the grading plan and the toi)ographicai 

 map and compile a complete map of all the existing features, 

 the house and the new changes in the grounds. Then locate 

 by arrow lines the direction of the views from the principal 



